With the widespread use of golf driving ranges there has come a need for devices that can rapidly pick up golf balls lying on the ground over a sizeable area of several acres. It is necessary for the proprietor of such a range to pick up hundreds or thousands of golf balls several times a day, wash them, and package them for reuse. Many different types of apparatus have been suggested although all generally involve a wheeled cart that can be rolled over the area, preferably pushjed by a small electric or gasoline powered vehicle driven by a person. The method of picking up the balls has taken many different designs, although the most popular appears to be that which includes a plurality of spaced wheels, the spaces between wheels being enough to pinch the ball between adjacent wheels, lift the ball off the ground as the wheels rotate, strip the ball out of the position between wheels, and catch the ball in a basket or other container. Typical of such an apparatus is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,365,540. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,658,637 the spaced wheels roll on the ground and support the cart as well as pick up golf balls. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,630,401 and 3,856,165 the golf balls are funneled into a single pick-up space near each of the supporting wheels. The varieties of design have been numerous, but there remained several reasons why improvements were still necessary. For example, some designs were too heavy and tended to mash some golf balls into the ground instead of picking them up. Other designs did not pick up enough golf balls in one pass over the area, and therefore, were not efficient.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel and efficient apparatus for picking up large numbers of golf balls in one sweep of the area. It is another object of this invention to provide an improved light weight golf ball retriever. Still other objects will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows.